Guest post by SilverRail Technologies:

This is not your grandpa’s choo choo train! SilverRail Technologies is transforming the rail market by creating the first global search & ticketing platform for the $300B passenger rail industry.

Rail is experiencing a global growth explosion: trains now travel up to 350mph, governments are investing hundreds of billions of dollars, and high speed trains are stealing major market share from air on routes throughout Europe. These winds of change are coalescing into a “perfect storm”, making passenger rail the travel industry’s fastest-growing sector.

Interestingly, while supplier-side innovation has been phenomenal (the Chinese are testing a 500mph train!), the distribution side is still in the stone-age. There is no “rail GDS”, which is why you don’t see rail sold through any major OTAs or TMCs. “Why can’t I do a simple air & rail search from Boston to New York? And why can’t I buy a rail + hotel/car package and enjoy cheaper prices? Why can’t I find rail where ever I choose to shop for my travel: online travel agency, mobile, price comparison, corporate account… Why am I forced to navigate so many different suppliers’ sites for my rail ticket, but I can get everything else through my favorite agency? That’s the core of the problem we’re solving”, remarked Aaron Gowell, SilverRail’s CEO.

SilverRail’s building the first integrated rail platform, allowing distributors to access global rail content through a single air-like API. SilverRail does all the work to integrate and standardize the supplier content. It then makes that content available for distributors to tie directly into their air search, packaging systems, or as a stand-alone product.

By the end of 2010, customers in all major channels will be using the SRT platform: self-booking tools, TMCs, OTAs, meta-search sites plus our own consumer brand, Quno. We’re looking forward to opening up this huge travel category that has historically been ignored by modern e-commerce channels.

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